Fellow JCI members,

We're half way through & it's so exciting to see that many of you have signed up for the Pound A Day Challenge! We are receiving a mixture of experiences in our feedback as is expected.

I will share some with you here, but first, here's a quote from save the children 

"Many thanks for choosing to support Save the Children. With the help of fundraisers like you, we are able to make a difference to children around the world, especially in times of crisis like in Syria and Gaza at the moment.

I love that JCI have tried to live off £1's worth of food for a whole week! I think it's absolutely astounding that £1 a day is what 1.4 billion people worldwide have to live on. Well done to everyone involved for bravely trying to do this for a whole week".

It's really great to get a response of appreciation from our chosen charity - Save The Children. 

In terms of personal experiences, some of you report that you are now 'thinking about food all day', which is totally normal and we understand.  The reality is as one member said- "you sometimes forget especially when treats are presented at work", but the idea is to get back on the band-waggon once you have realised this. Most of you are managing well, with fabulous ideas for new meals like....

Personally, I know I have been getting slightly irritable because of the change in diet, but I've caught myself a couple of times & got right back into gear with a positive mindset. Just the realisation that it's by choice & only for a short defined period of time, has made me so appreciative of the seemingly mundane things we take for granted daily in life. I am certainly experiencing personal growth and gratitude and this is spilling over into other areas of my life- social, professional, financial, family and business. I have realised that I actually enjoy warm lemon water & will slowly replace soft carbonated drinks with this going forward. I also had a preconceived notion that only junk food is affordable but that's not necessarily the case as I can see from some of your pictures. You can eat healthy on a limited budget. I must admit though, I do miss having fruit, which I couldn't incorporate in my budget this week as I concentrated on buying carbs to sustain me.

Feel free to share your experiences & 'aha moments' on our Facebook Event page.

Keep the pictures coming in with snap shots, receipts and recipes (optional but may encourage 'creative cooking' for others). Also, if you have any JCI merchandise like mugs, cups or posters, do include those in your pictures to further expand our social media reach & impact. Remember to tag savethechildrenuk on all social media platforms and on twitter using the hashtag #jciukpoundaday

Our target is to raise £1000 for Save the children. You can start making your donations and also ask your friends and family to support you via our JCI UK Just Giving page.

To make it a little more interesting, we will be giving away small Prizes for the chamber with the most number of participants in the challenge; the person who fundraises the most; the person who interacts the most about our challenge via social media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram), and a couple more for great engagement & mini-blogs. 

Either way, you are all winners as you have moved beyond your own desires to selflessly reach out and help others. This is our main focus. Each participant will be receiving a JCI certificate at the end of the challenge, to be presented at the JCI Launchpad event happening on the 28th of January in Nottingham. 

You will also get the opportunity to hear from our beneficiary charity 'Save The Children' as they enlighten us more about their work and receive their token donation from us. We are happy to post your certificate to you as well if you are unable to collect it physically.

Once again, thank you for taking part in the challenge. This is what JCI is all about- moving beyond awareness of hunger & poverty, to taking action and actually doing something about it. 

If you have any questions, get in touch with me via email: Epi.mabika@jciuk.org.uk

Or ask away in the Facebook group for the benefit of all.

We have surely started the year off with a bang! Let's keep the momentum going.

Once again- thank you and very well done to you all.

Best wishes

Epi Mabika

JCI UK National Community Director 2017